Chapter XII
The Beginning of the End
Rain poured down from the skies as the clouds covered the area in its grey puffiness. The sun would be halfway up in the sky if you could see it at all. Midday came and the ground was completely wet, getting wetter by the minute.
And even though it was Saturday and the rest of my life was ahead, I only had a few more days to save him. But this time, Negi-Sensei's coming with me.
"That should be everything," I muttered, looking through my pack again for the fourth time. All the items I was going to bring with me were stuffed into the bag, albeit it wasn't much anyways. I glanced over at my alarm clock on my nightstand—it read quarter past twelve. "Better get going 'else we won't have enough time. And just like this one story I've read, time is everything."
Picking up my bag along with my staff and wheel-less 'skateboard', I headed out the dorm, leaving it behind me as just a memory.
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"Heya, Aer-San!" Negi-Sensei called from outside the dormitories. He was using the 'invisible umbrella' spell I showed him when we were discussing our plans. On his back was a grey backpack that seemed almost full. He wore a black shirt under a blue jacket and jeans. By the look of his smile, the child seemed anxious to get going on the trip.
"You ready?" I asked, to which he responded nodding his head fast. "Let's go then." And with that, I led Negi-Sensei outside of the campus through less-traveled areas that were actually faster than taking the usual route. We made it out of the Mahora boundaries in about twenty minutes, then headed towards the nearby forest area where we would be sure no one could see us. "This seems like a good spot," I muttered.
No one was around and anyone traveling by couldn't see us; it'd be perfect to leave in this area. "Okay," I said, turning to face the ten-year-old who was resting on a tree stump. "We can leave now and be in Wales by five or six." I unclipped the 'skateboard' from a strap on my pack and laid it on the ground—it hovered a good ten centimeters from the dirt. "We'll need to conceal ourselves with a spell. You know one?"
He nodded and stood up. "Yeah, I use it whenever I've gotta fly on my wand. Need me to enchant yours too?" His face beamed at me.
I shook my head. "No, I need you to cast it on this board."
Negi-Sensei looked at me puzzled. "Why? It'd be faster to travel on our wands, right? Besides, how are we going to get there…?"
Sighing I replied, "It's actually slower since you have to watch out for everything and everyone. I told you this morning we'd be riding on a sa'e pa'e." He looked even more confused. Guess he was half asleep this morning, I thought. "Look, just use the spell to enchant the board with the spell. You'll see why soon enough." I pointed at the 'skateboard' that was still hovering off the ground and the child decided to just listen to what I said since he pulled out his wand and recited a spell. "Good," I muttered after he was finished. "Now, get on top of the board on the front."
Now he looked uncertain. Surely a board no wider than forty-something centimeters and almost as long as a meter wouldn't hold the weight or size of two kids; especially while flying through the air. But to prove him wrong, I grabbed his arm and shoved him onto the board facing forward. Before he could complain, I stood on the back end and maneuvered the board to fly. And fly we did. After five seconds, we were a good ten meters off the ground, and rising. We were already flying towards Wales in no less than twenty-seconds, a good fifty meters in the sky.
And to his disbelief, Negi-Sensei was enjoying the ride as if he was on a really long roller coaster, "whee"-ing and looking down below without having to control; must be the first time he flew when someone else was steering.
"This," I called out over the roar of the wind. "This, Negi-Sensei, is a smaller version of a sa'e pa'e."
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We landed around evening on a hill with very little plant life anywhere. It seemed as if there was a wildfire that would have swept through from one end to the other, but it wasn't a wildfire at all.
Negi-Sensei was half-asleep be the time he arrived—he conked out about an hour ago when it was starting to get dark. It took some time to get my bearings of where I landed, but I knew my house wasn't very far away, as was the town in the opposite direction. I nudged the child and he woke up and got off the board, to which I then clipped onto my pack. He looked around and asked, with a sleepy tone in his voice, "Where are we?"
"We're almost there," I said. Tomorrow's Sunday, so that'd be the twentieth. Then the twenty-first is Monday, so it's all right. I've got two days this time. "My house is no more than a kilometer away." He nodded, then followed me in silence. We passed by the black trees and the remnants of what used to live here, even the animals. When we passed by a huge, hundred-meter long crater, memories came flooding back, but I didn't bother lingering on them.
We arrived at a small peninsula in ten minutes from when we landed, and I was surprised to see anyone in this part of town. There were two figures walking around like idiots when they spotted me. One of them, a teen with blonde hair in jeans and a blue shirt came up to me, confused. "Excuse me," He started, pulling at a broken pocket watch from his pocket, glancing at it and putting it back in his pocket. "Have you seen someone around here that looks suspicious? Maybe evil or out-of-place…?"
"Well, there's you…" I reply, raising an eyebrow. "No one really ever comes to this part of the island, ya'know…"
He looked down at his feet. "Thanks anyways." He murmured, and left with the other figure in the shadows. What was that about…? Weirdo.
The peninsula was small and didn't seem much like a peninsula—more like an extra piece of rack that's hanging off the edge of the island. It was quiet and dark already as we went up to the house at the other side from which we came from. The building wasn't too terribly small, twenty or thirty meters wide and two story. There were small flowers and green patches around the area, as well as a view off the end. The windows were pitch-black, the exterior was painted a crème color, and the door—stained a light brown that was fading in some spots—had no door knob, no nook, no anything. In order to get inside, you had to recite a line of an old language; this house was built during the war as to keep the enemies out.
I spoke the words softly as to not give away the line to anyone, including any possible spies, but loud enough that a small 'creak' came from the door. "Come on, we should sleep tonight and head out tomorrow," I said to Negi-Sensei as I started walking into the house, the kid teacher following behind me like a drone.
After we entered the house, the door closed like magic and the air was a bit chilly. The entryway had two openings to other rooms on the right and left and ahead was a small hallway that leads to a set of stairs. The floor was wooden panels, cold for some reason, and off to the left was a painting about a hundred years old. It was a battle between two different groups of mages, fighting over a wide plain.
"Where are we?" The ten-year-old asked, not seeming tired anymore. He took off his shoes like he was still in Japan, and went to look off in the openings.
"We're at my house," I replied, dropping of my pack and wand in the room to the right. "I've lived here since a long time."
"This is your house?!" He asked surprised, entering the same room I had. This one was like a living room, with two loveseat couches on either sides of a coffee table and bookshelves lining most of the walls. There were also several different artifacts on small, meter high podiums that had magical barriers around them.
I turned around and headed around to the opposite side of the house, Negi-Sensei following me, gazing at anything and everything. "Yup. It's getting late so we should eat a little something then head to bed. There are a few extra rooms upstairs so you don't have to fit on the couch." I entered the kitchen and opened a medium-sized fridge, looking through its contents. There wasn't much food left, though enough for a little while considering we'd have to eat today and tomorrow morning before we head out. "Hope you don't mind some sandwiches, soda and some other munchies for desert. They didn't leave much left." I took out the bread and deli fixings.
"Sandwiches are fine," He said, sitting down at a round table for four. "But who didn't leave much? Someone else live here?"
Placing some turkey slices and cheese on the open pieces of bread, I replied, "Yeah. Me and my brother and his Spirit all lived here. Then, as you may remember from the infirmary, Yates came and made it hell. I would've gone and fixed it but after the last incident, I knew he was too powerful. So I decided to get some help and remembered your dad." His eyes looked wide at me. Or maybe it was the food… "Last time I had met him, I remember he'd mentioned his son, and surely he'd be powerful. Besides, maybe if you were older you'd be stronger, though I can't wait years for you to grow up and learn a few more magic spells. Here's your sandwich." I said, handing him a plate with turkey, cheese, and lettuce between two wheat bread slices. Then I went and grabbed two cups, the one-liter left in the two-liter bottle, and poured two cups of lemon-lime soda.
"Thanks," He said, eating his food as soon as I went to make mine as if he hadn't eaten in days. "Won more ques'on." He said with a mouthful of food. "Vu shaid somfing abou a 'Shpirit'. Wot do vu mean?"
Finishing my sandwich, I grabbed the extra cup of soda and sat at the table across from Negi-Sensei. "Well, don't worry about it. Western mages don't use them anymore anyways." I took a bite of my sandwich.
Swallowing, he said, "What? But we've never changed—Western mages have always used the same techniques and spells and stuff. How can we not use these 'Spirits' anymore? And what are they." He drank about half the cup in one gulp.
"Vell," I said, gulping down the food in my mouth. "Western mages have changed since the War, and they created this new system of Pactio cards. They even stopped using the mage's language too. No one even remembers how to create a Spirit anyways. And I told you to don't worry about it." I took a big bite of my sandwich, leaving another mouthful left.
"But," Negi-Sensei said, wolfing down the rest of his dinner. "I've never heard of them or this 'language of mages' or Spirits or anything. The library at my school had an extensive collection of books, albeit nothing compared to the one at Library Island, but still…"
Finishing the rest of my food and swallowing the last of my soda, I replied, "Listen, Negi-Sensei; there are secrets people want to remain hidden forever. Secrets they never want the light of day to reach into the darkness and reveal what's hidden. And the secrets I have…; there's so many deep down inside me, they'll never escape. And there are also things that should remain secret. Forever."
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Dawn broke early this morning with little to no clouds anywhere. Inside the house, the temperature was average, being not too cold or warm. I was up already, changed into a new set of clothes and already downstairs preparing what was left of the food for breakfast; toaster waffles, a few eggs, and half of a carton of orange juice. Not the best selection, but it killed the hunger pains.
Negi-Sensei walked in sleepily, and sat down at the table yawning. I placed the plate of food down for both of us on either sides of the table, and we ate silently. We finished and he went up to change while I went over to the living area of the room, looking through the bookshelves. Once I spotted the book I was looking for, I pulled it out and brought it to the couch where my pack was placed. Inside, I found the book I took from Library Island way back when I first arrived at Mahora. The two books were the same except for one detail—the one I took was translated differently. Incorrectly, in fact.
"It's amazing how much your past can follow you through the future." I muttered, laying both the books down on the coffee table and stood up. I headed over to a door hidden beside a large bookcase and entered it.
This room was long and seemed as dark as the night. The only light came from the many pedestals stretching the length of the room. Several different artifacts were on top of them, ranging in shape, size, and era they originated from. It's amazing how every mage's item can vary, although as I walked down the row, one pedestal was empty. Well, half-empty in fact, for a dark silhouette was forming, shaping a familiar artifact I'd come to know on this trip. Sighing, I said, "And yet, the future still holds secrets too."
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The trek from my house to the place we needed to be took a good half an hour on foot. It would've been faster to be on our wands, though then we'd be an easier target in the air. I'd much rather not take the chance—we've got the whole rest of the day anyways.
"This is it?" The child-teacher asked. We were facing a thin strip of land, maybe twenty meters long and one-third meters wide. It looked shaky and as if it would crumble the minute we walked on it. On the other side was what appeared to be a small hill not as big as my house. There were large patches of brown dirt and stone, barely any grass at the base.
"Yeah," I replied. "Now follow me as fast as you can and don't stop. Don't use magic to fly or speed up—just run like hell. Ready, go." And with that I sped down the narrow strip, hoping a confused Negi-Sensei was following behind. I heard the earth beneath me already crumbling and falling into the sea; though I didn't stop until both my feet were firmly on the other side. And to my surprise, the kid was right behind my on the hill, panting. "Good, you made it." He looked up, tired, and smiled.
I waited about five minutes for him to catch his breath and then we went around to the other side of the hill facing this ocean. A large boulder was planted steadfastly on a flat area, covering up the back of it. Pushing it forward into the hill, I felt it budge and then roll down a semi-steep slope. The tunnel beneath wasn't pitch black—there was a faint red glow that illuminated it.
As we ventured down, the light grew brighter until we entered a large cavern with several stone doors encircling the walls. The boulder from above disappeared into a large whole in the middle of the room.
"Whoa," I heard Negi-Sensei declare as he reached the bottom. He looked upwards, yet couldn't see the top. "We didn't travel that far did we?" Looking down, he saw the giant hole and gasped again. "Where are we?"
"It's a volcano," I replied, looking from door to door without moving. "It's far beneath the water and probably continues down for a couple extra kilometers. It's never been discovered by normal humans for the fact that it doesn't look at all like a hill nor that people would risk their lives to discover it." I spotted a door and began heading towards it. "It was used as a hideout during the War, though it's been said the eruption was so sudden, it killed everyone and everything in it." There was a large carving of words covering the wall.
"What's that say?" Negi-Sensei asked from behind me. Apparently he followed me when I went over to the door.
"It's a riddle, though I already know the answer." I pressed my palm to the carving and muttered, 'tân' in a low voice not even the ten-year-old could hear. And as if by magic, the door opened with a quiet rumbling sound.
And the room looked somewhat identical to the previous one except the ceiling wasn't as high and there was a small river of lava that traveled around the bottom of the perimeter. There wasn't a giant hole, either.
And at the end of the room, darker and set aside by a river in between the land and the rest of the room, was a figure hunched and facing the opposite way. His clothes were all torn and dirty; his hair was far longer than the appropriate length; and he was muttering something in a strange tongue of every language he knew.
My eyes widened, and before I could speak, I was hit by a powerful darkness spell that sent me backwards into the first room near the hole. I saw Negi-Sensei was hit by another spell in the opposite direction. I tried getting up, but the spell hit me in the stomach that it hurt to get to my feet. My staff was in hand already, and I headed into the room only to be whacked by another spell. I screamed, I think. My body felt limp as I was thrown against the door, which closed after I entered the second time. Looking up, my vision seemed worse although I could make out four shapes in the room; one was the disheveled clump of rags at the far end, another was Negi-Sensei getting to his feet and pulling something out from his pocket, and the other two were muttering incantations.
The first was an older man with medium-length black hair and wore a blue long-sleeved shirt and jeans. The second was thinner than the first with red, spiky hair and in a t-shirt and short pants. Evil printed all over them. Yet instead of hearing their spells, for they were reciting them out loud, I heard a different spell. It was a hoarse whisper, but it was as clear as day.
"Sis Mea Pars! Ministra Negī, Aēr Hazumī!"
Power surged through me all of a sudden and not only did my vision see more clearly, but the aches seemed to have died down. I stood up and muttered a spell to avert the attention of the two mages that attacked us. "Ūndētrīgintā Spīritūs Ignis Coeuntēs... Sagitta Magica Seriēs Ignis!" Twenty-nine arrows of fire appeared and targeted the mages. They sped through the air, creating a 'whoosh' sound as they approached their target. They hit and blew up, but nothing was there. They moved! I thought turning around to hear a scream of pain.
The larger of the two snuck behind Negi-Sensei and blasted his back with a powerful ice spell. He fell to the ground, not dead or completely out, just badly wounded. I was prepared to heal him but the other one attacked me with a fire spell of his own. Falling to the ground hurt, yet my body wouldn't rest yet.
I pulled out the object from a case strapped around my waist via belt. The object was slightly longer than my hand and as thin as a few sheets of paper. Slowly, I got to my knees and held up the card. Time moved slowly then, and no one seemed to move; as if frozen to place.
My eyes looked directly at Negi-Sensei's fallen body, and I recited the spell as loud as I could muster—making sure that it would go through and work.
"Sis Mea Pars! Minister Aēr Hazumī, Negī Springfieldēs! Compleo mutuo!"
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Author's Note: Sorry It's been a few weeks since I last updated, but winter's usually the busiest time for me. :-p Anyways, climax! The suspense! And the end is coming near, so near in fact that I can smell it. Or maybe that smell's not the end…
Anyways, this chapter seemed to be longer than what I envisioned, although I think it went through well. This is probably the last cliffhanger I'll be able to write for this story, so that's good for you and bad for me (I think). I'm also going to post up new pictures on the website, though I still need to scan 'em and upload then (they'll be there soon. :D)
Tikigod784 -- Thanks for reviewing again! It's been awhile, too.
Runekn -- There's one, possibly two chapters left, as I'll say below. And a sa'e pa'e could be dangerous; although it depends who/what/how it's being controlled.
There's only one, possibly two chapters left for Student Number 32. I doubt that the story will stretch enough for two chapters, though. I'm hoping to have it finished soon, no later than the end of January.